


Astronomy in reverse

by moonqueerdom



Series: Winter Tale [1]
Category: All For The Game - Nora Sakavic
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Andrew Minyard waxing poetic, Creature Neil, Fluff, Human Andrew, M/M, POV Andrew Minyard, Protective Neil Josten, Protectiveness, Soft Neil Josten/Andrew Minyard, Songfic, Tooth-Rotting Fluff, Winter, a bit of pining, aftgwinterjam2020, and hopefully i got it right, i tried to make it sound poetic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-20
Updated: 2020-12-20
Packaged: 2021-03-10 20:13:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,801
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28193001
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/moonqueerdom/pseuds/moonqueerdom
Summary: Something about that miracle boy was just a step on the line of too much. Abram was too much.Andrew couldn't pinpoint exactly what was the biggest culprit in that, but Abram definitely had something that made him too divine, holy, sacred. As if he could burn Andrew with a touch from his fingers.He wasn’t only a constellation. He was also as beautiful as he was endless. Abram was a universe in which Andrew was helplessly immersed in.~a winter tale about how Andrew Minyard discovered there was a pair of ethereal blue eyes protecting and taking care of him, and he, of course, was fascinated by it
Relationships: Neil Josten/Andrew Minyard
Series: Winter Tale [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2067042
Comments: 18
Kudos: 133
Collections: #AFTGWinterJam 2020





	Astronomy in reverse

**Author's Note:**

> hi! i honestly don't have much to say this time, which is a miracle because my notes are always a lot of chatter. the idea for this fic came to me suddenly and i wrote everything on impulse. i'm feeling really tired lately so writing this whole thing was really an achievement for me because i can't focus on my wips enough to actually finish them. hope y'all can enjoy it, really. good reading
> 
> this fic is based on the song [venus - sleeping at last](https://youtu.be/2YbdBQpiaA4) (i recommend that you listen, because this song is completely perfect). cw: small mention of knives and attempts to hurt and small mention of neil being beaten. let me know if there is more

This happened every winter. Andrew couldn’t pinpoint exactly how it all initiated, but he started to realize at the age of fifteen.

At that time, he had been in juvie, and _oh_ , how he had hated the holidays. He just couldn't stand that the place was full of young delinquents who could barely get along with each other, or socialize in general — he now supposed this was actually typical of teenagers, not delinquents — but for a day the officers expected them to pretend that wasn’t real. Every year, without fail, they would insist that all of them, plus the employees of the place, would gather around a huge table set up especially for this, and eat foods that they wouldn’t see again in the regular days inside the juvie. Or worse, they expected them to be thankful for reasons that they didn’t have.

It was on one of those nights that Andrew first noticed.

He was sitting in a hall, where there were plexiglass windows that occupied the entire wall and, therefore, allowed a complete view from the outside.

He wasn’t looking there, at first. Andrew's gaze was lost in nowhere, and so he would like to stay for as long as possible. But a glimpse of something shiny caught his attention. And apparently only his.

He saw bare trees and snow covering everything, and behind it all, he saw blue.

It was difficult to elaborate more than that, really.

It looked like the stars and it looked like hope. It looked like something sacred and trustworthy. It looked ethereal, but most of all, it looked like a pair of eyes.

Andrew, of course, found himself mesmerized, and he wasn't even annoyed by it. He tried to identify as much as he could of what he was seeing but unfortunately, he had to admit he wasn’t able. He could tell that whatever it was, it was looking at him. And as much as Andrew hated being paid attention to, he was somehow undisturbed right then and right there.

He allowed himself to look openly until the blue became much more fierce and he wished he could understand, that he could pull it close until there was no space between him and whatever it was. 

It looked like a warning, 

It looked like a shout.

It looked like a _plea_.

But a flash of movement made him narrow his eyes and a loud noise from someone falling made him turn his attention to the other delinquents who, he remembered, were still around him. Andrew looked just in time to see a guy named Campbell lying on the floor and grunting something about ‘the damn waxed floor that is going to kill every person in this juvie’.

Andrew also realized that he was the only other person close to that guy — except for the employees who would approach soon if he continued to whimper on the floor — and that he was probably walking towards Andrew. Not being enough, the blonde also caught the small movement of his hand as he tried to hide a piece of metal that he was holding.

Whatever was his goal, Andrew highly doubted it would be anything good. And he wouldn't notice until it was too late, because he was distracted by the blue, the stars, _the glow._

Andrew looked out of the window again. It was still there, looking calmer now, not as fierce as just a few minutes ago. He wondered what that meant.

But he didn’t have much time to think further about it, because the brightness increased and then gradually disappeared into thin air. Simple like that. He looked, looked, looked, and looked around but it was gone.

For many minutes, which were more agonizing than he would have liked, Andrew cursed that damned juvie — even though he had practically put himself in there on purpose — because if he had only managed to go outside, he might have been able to touch, feel, discover whatever that was.

And now he feared that he would never find it again.

But in the next few days, when he was always _mysteriously_ saved from any fucking incidents — in a rather peculiar way if he had to be honest since he almost fell off the stairs once and the wall literally _changed shape_ and molded into some kind of bizarre mass that held him before he actually hit the ground —, the night sky ruled his imagination. And the stars. And all that _blueness_.

Again, if that was a constellation looking after him, he wished he were like a telescope, then he would pull whatever that was so close that no space would lie in between.

Time passed though, and when winter was over he convinced himself once more that he would never find again whatever had been that.

And even though Andrew hated the cold, they were very boring and melancholic seasons, the other three.

~

He saw it again at sixteen.

At seventeen.

At eighteen.

But it was at nineteen that Andrew finally got lucky. 

He was parking his car and saw an intense flash of blue in the rearview mirror, very close by. He was suddenly very grateful to be alone and immediately got out of the car with all the care and slowness he was able to handle, in fear the _blueness_ would go away.

Nobody was around either, and he briefly wondered if that was also part of whatever that was. Whenever that appeared, no one else was ever around or seemed to be able to see it.

The blue was looking back at him and moving from side to side as if surveying Andrew. Andrew allowed it. If it trusted him, maybe he could do this reciprocally. He wanted to, at least.

In the past years, he had observed, assimilated, and learned everything he was able to about the constellation that appeared only to him, and, apparently, also protected him. Doing this remotely and without any form of direct contact, there wasn’t much he could do though, to be honest. He settled on making a map of all those stars and thought that was enough.

And, for some time, it was. Until he had a revelation that he wouldn't have had hadn't he been face to face to the subject of study in question.

It wasn’t a constellation. It was a _person._ Well, not quite a _human_ being, probably, but they were a _living_ being that looked _a lot_ like a human.

With that realization, Andrew risked, "Hello."

The blue eyes blinked and stayed open in complete disbelief. Glowing. Flaming. Gleaming. It all still seemed very mystical, but now Andrew supposed it _really was._

"Andrew," velvety, seraphic and melodious. These are words that Andrew thought he would never find himself using to describe someone's voice. Or even anything that could be related to someone else. But that was what came out of the person's mouth in front of him at that very moment.

“That’s me. Who are you?"

"I’m a boy. I’m Abram,” Andrew is pretty sure he smiled after saying that. "It’s a pleasure to finally meet you."

"Likewise," the blonde replied, and narrowed his eyes, "You could have come to me before though. Rather than creeping from a distance. ”

“We cannot come to you first. It has to be the other way around. ”

 _"We?"_ Andrew raised an eyebrow now.

"Yes. _Sammines._ It’s a very rare species but some of us still exist. Oh, and we’re different from the _Savvines,”_ Abram looked very proud of himself as he said that.

Andrew looked at him closely. Up close now he could make out the rest of his features, in addition to his big, shiny blue eyes. Soft, delicate skin that expanded everywhere he was big. Chubby thighs, arms, and torso. Plump cheeks and lips. Large hips and shoulders. All that.

He was short though. Barely taller than Andrew — unfortunately; but Andrew would comfort himself by repeating that Abram was _literally not human._

Matching his blue eyes, he had a mess of auburn curls that sometimes brushed across his face. Despite being chaotic, they looked pretty silky and enticing. And it was from there on that he looked clearly non-human. He had very different ears than Andrew was used to seeing. And, like, not only that, he also had two pairs of them. One pair had as a differential only the fact that it had pointy tips at each one, and the other was a pair of bunny-like ears. Plus a fuzzy long tail — which actually appeared to be made up of tiny sparkling particles and not material enough for Andrew to touch. Besides, of course, _the eyes._

Something about that miracle boy was just a step on the line of too much. Abram was too much.

Andrew couldn't pinpoint exactly what was the biggest culprit in that, but Abram definitely had something that made him too divine, holy, sacred. As if he could burn Andrew with a touch from his fingers.

He wasn’t only a constellation. He was also as beautiful as he was endless. Abram was a universe in which Andrew was helplessly immersed in.

Unfortunately, though, Andrew was still human. And it was winter. Snow surrounded them and Andrew wasn’t as tough as he thought, because he was slowly starting to tremble.

“Oh, I'm so sorry. You should get in before it gets colder,” Abram said, concern shining in his eyes. _His blue eyes._

"Are you going to come along?"

"I'm sorry again, I'm afraid I can't."

"So I'm not going."

"Andrew," it was just that. Just his name, which he listened to literally all the time. But now it seemed so tender, affectionate, caring, warm.

“I convinced myself that I would never find you one more time. Now suddenly I saw you again,” he said, out loud what he had only kept in his thoughts. "I’m not leaving now."

 _“You_ didn't find _me,_ silly. Plus, I’ll be here all the time. Well, at least as long as the winter lasts,” Abram smiled.

"What do you mean by all of this?" Andrew was full-on frowning now.

"You’ll find out. Now, will you do me a favor and go inside?”

He probably should have. It was freezing and now the temperature was bordering on extremely uncomfortable for him. But he really didn't want to leave.

"Can I at least ask something first?" Andrew asked then.

“Of course.”

“Can I touch you? I need to make sure you’re real, and so far we just talked, so everything could just be in my head.”

He obviously felt ridiculous asking for this, but Abram did nothing more than smile and nod. He held out a palms-up hand to Andrew and waited patiently. When the blonde put his own hand over his, Abram moved both hands together until they were pressing against his rib cage. His heart was a steady beat against Andrew's palm and it was soothing and totally real. Totally true, not a figment of Andrew's mind.

_Sunrise, Abram, death: these are truths._

~

"Why would I do such a thing as putting that little item inside my ear?" Abram seemed honestly terrified of the idea.

“‘That little item’ is called an earphone, and it’s mostly harmless,” Andrew explained, showing the earphone more intently than one would expect. "Look, nothing bad happens if you put them on."

To demonstrate what he had said, the blonde put one of the pair pieces inside his own ear and signaled it to Abram, who was watching the scene with attention and curiosity. His tail started to swing slowly from side to side. After a long silence and a long intense stare, he finally sighed and held out his hand for Andrew to give the other side of the earphone to him, which Andrew did.

And so they were sharing earphones.

It was snowing a little and they were, as usual, in an open space behind the PSU buildings. But this time Andrew had prepared himself. He was wearing enough clothes to keep him warm for months, so now he wasn't going to let something as futile as the cold get between him and Abram.

Speaking of which, it wasn't like the latter was having any problems with the temperature, by the way. He was wearing what appeared to be a short jumpsuit that was glued to his body enough to look like the outfit had magically emerged from his skin, and the thing was thin enough that it almost looked like it was a cloud covering him. He was also barefoot.

“Okay, now don't be alarmed. I’m going to put music on my phone, which you’ll be able to hear through the earphone, alright?” Andrew explained it more carefully than he would ever have if it was with literally anyone else.

"Ok," Abram nodded. There was a pause of a few seconds until Andrew found a playlist that wasn’t composed of hard rock or heavy metal. He hit play. Abram, obviously, startled immediately. "The sound is so close, this is cool!"

"Yeah, right," he nodded, watching carefully for all the reactions. "So, why a bunny?"

"What?" Abram asked, and Andrew pointed at his ears. The second pair of them, that is. “Oh. That's because your animal is a bunny.”

"My animal? What.”

"It's like... Um, this is a very long story, I think I need to sum it up," he sighed. “Sammines are protective creatures. That’s our job. I didn’t always have this bunny feature, but once I started looking after you and chose you to take care of, then that’s what happened because the animal that your soul sympathizes with is a bunny.”

“I didn't understand, but I’ll pretend that I did. Why did you choose me to protect? I don’t need this."

“I will have to disagree with you on this point. And I chose you because you remind me of a wild ocean.”

"What kind of motivation is that?" Andrew frowned, appalled.

Abram didn’t deign to actually answer him, just ignoring it as if the blonde had said nothing and muttering, "You remind me of a wild ocean, and I always wanted to know the sea."

So Andrew changed the direction of the conversation because he didn't think he would really achieve anything if he continued on that path.

"Why the winter?" He asked.

Abram's smile before answering didn't reach his eyes. “You see, once we choose who we’ll take care of, we are bound to that person, but the person is not bound to us. Humans can accept or decline a sammin who chooses them at any time. If they accept, we can remain fully around. If they refuse, we lose our bond and everything that connects us to that human. Until then, however, winter is neutral ground, I guess. The only way we can stick around without overwhelming our humans.”

"Does winter have anything special?"

“Well, several things, don't you think? It's magical,” Abram made a small movement with his hands, as if he were dropping glitter through his fingertips, and looked at Andrew.

"I can see you. That’s the only magic.”

They were both momentarily quiet, both silent and immobile. Too close, in more ways than just one, and it was making Andrew's skin itch and heat.

"How can I ac—," he started to ask but was interrupted.

 _“Andrew?_ Are you around here?” A voice called. Nicky's voice. _Obviously it would be him. The PSU was empty because of the holidays and winter break, but_ **_of course_ ** _he would show up._

"Why, it looks like this is my cue," Abram smiled, and again he didn't look completely satisfied while doing so, but he did it anyway. "I will find you again, Andrew."

He barely finished saying that and just disappeared. _Again._ Andrew hated it every single time he did that. Now he was alone in the middle of the snow with a single thought in mind.

 _I was a billion little pieces until he pulled me into focus. It was like astronomy in reverse; I was not the one who discovered the constellation— the planet—_ **_Abram._ ** _It was me who was discovered. By him._

~

"You underestimate me if you think I don't know how to make a _perfect_ snowman, Andrew," Abram said, amid laughter as he rolled a large snowball with his bare hands.

"And you overestimate me if you think I'm going to make _any_ snowman," Andrew mumbled. It was cold enough without stuffing his hands on snow, thank you very much.

"Oh, come on, it's fun!"

"No, it isn’t. If I do this, afterward I'll have my hands hurting, did you know that snow hurts? Assuming the constant temperature of the ice to be thirty-two degrees Fahrenheit, and the skin temperature of a human being to be ninety-eight degrees Fahrenheit, the moment the ice comes in contact with the skin, a thermal shock occurs. And the ice activates temperature receptors and those responsible for transmitting pain messages, so we feel a burning sensation. There are also many other details, but I don't feel like talking about them. So no. No snowman for me."

"That's very smart and attractive of you," Abram smiled even more, which Andrew didn't even think was possible. And it made him a little awkwardly flustered that Abram would tell something like that as if it was nothing. _Maybe it was._ "Well, I don't feel any of that, so maybe I can make a snowman for you and me."

"Feel free," the blonde shrugged. "I will be here doing absolutely nothing and I hope to continue like this for a long time."

"How boring. What do people say?" He put a hand on his chin and was quiet as if he were thinking deeply about something before turning with mirth on his _too blue, too beautiful,_ eyes. "Oh, right. You basic bitch."

"Offense noted but not taken. Honestly, I expected more from you."

"This is where you went wrong. Now stay there and watch me make the most perfect snowmen in the world."

Shrugging and pretending he was superior to that, Andrew resigned himself to actually standing aside and watching while Abram rolled some big snowballs and then struggled to stack them all together and pat until the shape was perfectly round.

As Abram walked on the snow, he left footprints behind and Andrew wanted to throw himself face down on the ground because he was noticing that kind of thing. 

_This is so fucked up._

Abram did all of those things without taking the smile off his face — except when it was replaced by his deep frown of concentration, but it didn't usually last long — and practically bouncing around. In general, he seemed all too happy to be doing that, and the whole scene was causing _things_ inside Andrew. More precisely, things he wasn’t used to and didn’t know exactly how to deal with. But, at the same time, unfortunately, that wasn't the first time he realized he was feeling something like that directed at Abram. 

_Again, this is so fucked up._

And it isn’t as if, at this point, Andrew wasn’t yet familiar with the idea that Abram was different in many ways, and made him feel different too. He was. What he wasn’t familiar with, however, was the fact that, even though he spent most of the year without even seeing a single thing about Abram, the moment they met again, with the snow all around them and falling slowly to pile over their skin, hair and clothes, all it took was one look at Abram for Andrew to feel it all over again, and possibly even stronger than the last time.

That, by the way, was one of the biggest reasons Andrew was interested in doing the ‘accept a sammin’ thing that Abram had talked about before. He would do it without even thinking twice if it meant he would just have more time to see his constellation, his blue eyes, and all the endless things he was. And this... This was something completely scary, from Andrew's point of view, even though he was doing absolutely nothing to prevent or diminish that — which, on some level, he almost considered self-destructive.

But, anyway, he unconsciously kept looking at Abram and seeing all the amazing things. Trust, honesty, endless beauty, innocence, care... Andrew couldn't, even if he wanted to, ignore all that. He had long ago totally given up on pretending it didn't exist. Abram was—

A snowball hit Andrew on the face, followed by the sound of the shameless laughter of the only other person who was there with him.

_A complete fucking twit, that was what he was._

"What the fuck," Andrew snarled — or he likes to think he did because it was actually a, scarily, more affectionate version of a snarl.

“I like how your face looks when it's cold. Your cheeks, nose, and ears are always pink, it's adorable,” Abram pouted appreciatively or something.

Andrew gave a little cough and hoped he wasn't blushing any more because of that shit. 

_This. Is. So. Fucked. Up._

"And then you _throw a snowball on my face?"_ He asked, pretending he wasn't completely dying and freaking out internally thanks to Abram's compliment.

"Well, no. That was because you were distracted and I needed to get your attention. If I want to look at your adorable face, then all I have to do is… _look.”_

"Don't use the word adorable to refer to me," Andrew rolled his eyes, even though there was really no heat in the gesture.

"Cute, then?"

"No."

"Lovely?"

"No."

"Heavenly?"

"No," Andrew's face was impossibly hot even in the very low temperature.

"Sexy?"

"What the fuck, no, it doesn't even mean the same thing," he grimaced to disguise how really ~~pleased~~ embarrassed he was.

Abram sighed dramatically, crossed his arms, and puffed out his cheeks, "I hate it here."

"Yeah, well, that’s on you."

They didn’t indulge on the subject very much, because Abram was only kidding and Andrew obviously wasn’t going to try to continue discussing praises to be used with him.

"Look, look at the two snowmen I made," Abram signed, pointing to the things in question. The eyes and mouths had been drawn in the snow using his fingers — since they had nothing to put in place — and the noses were dry sticks. "The smallest is called Andrew and the other one is called Neil."

"Who's Neil?" Andrew asked, instead of complaining because the smallest one was named after him. _I definitely deserve a few points for being so friendly,_ he thought.

Abram hummed. “That's a name I like. I would probably call myself that if I could choose my own name.”

"You don't like Abram?"

“I do. That's why I use it, after all. But Abram is my _second_ name. And I _hate_ my first name.”

"Change it to Neil, then."

"It's not that easy," Abram shrugged. “I already told you about my father, right? He would be furious and he certainly wouldn't accept it. ”

"It's easy for me to call you Neil though."

"For real?" No fucking lie, his eyes genuinely shone now and he looked like a child at that moment, all pure euphoria on Christmas morning when they open their gift and discover that it is exactly what they wanted — but not that Andrew knew anything about it.

"Yes, Neil."

"Just between us?"

“Yes.”

He smiled and sighed, making a white cloud of air escape from his lips. “Neil Abram. It's not bad, is it?”

"Everything about you is at least awful, but I suppose that's ok."

Neil put a hand on his chest as if he was offended, bent down, and, in a quick movement, made another snowball and tossed it at Andrew.

"Do you think you're protecting me by throwing this shit at me?" The blonde asked.

Neil didn't answer, he just made another snowball and tossed it too. Andrew scoffed and, too lazy to bend over, kicked a lot of snow in Neil’s general direction. And to his horror, all the auburn-haired man did was laugh.

They continued with this little game until Andrew's entire face was completely red and aching thanks to all the snow Neil had thrown at him.

That was just another day for the account of why Andrew wanted Neil to stay, but his fucking brain kept insisting that he needed to think about it better, that he was getting ahead of himself.

So he did the only thing he could for now. He waited.

~

Twenty-one years old now. It was exactly Christmas Day and all the Foxes who were in town were gathered at Abby's house. They were eating, thanking, talking, and bonding. Andrew didn't give a single shit to any of that.

He was worried. He hadn't _seen_ Neil since the beginning of the week, but he knew he was being protected by him anyway. Something about Andrew trying to stab himself in the hand on purpose — to prove his point — and the knife abruptly deflecting his skin and hitting the counter instead.

So, Neil was watching and doing his job, but he didn't deign enough to actually show up? Something was wrong.

Andrew was smoking his third cigarette of the night and finally, _finally,_ he saw a flash of blue, stars, auburn and everything. He didn't stay in place, he approached immediately.

Neil, against all odds, was kneeling beside a tree. His head was down and his tail helplessly slumped over the snow, not to mention the bandages on his left arm, waist, and neck.

"What happened?" Andrew spared no effort and asked immediately.

“Oh, hi. Merry Christmas,” he was panting.

"Neil."

“Well, I… I had some problems back in my homeland. Father was angry for who knows what reason. I'm fine now though,” he made a dismissive gesture with his right hand. "What about you? How is your evening?"

Andrew didn't even know how to start dealing with that situation. He threw the cigarette he was still holding out and knelt in front of Neil, looking at him intently.

"Can I touch you?" Andrew asked, looking for his blue eyes with his own.

"Yes."

So he did. He slowly raised a hand and held Neil’s somehow warm cheek. If he was to be the stars, a constellation, and all that shit, he might as well be the fucking sun.

"You’re protecting me, but who is protecting you, you silly?" Andrew asked, whispering.

He often thought about it. How soft he allowed himself to be with Neil and whenever Neil was around, that is. It should be fitting that the only person who made him feel this safe wasn’t human.

"I'm fine, Andrew," he leaned into the touch and closed his eyes. There it was his tail showing signs of what he was feeling, as it was starting to move and then swing restlessly from side to side.

"Don’t be stupid. People who are ‘fine’ don’t appear kneeling on the snow and wrapped in bandages,” Andrew rolled his eyes, while Neil had the audacity to fucking snort. There was something that was taking up Andrew's throat right now, asking to leave. He had failed to ask the last few times, and now he couldn't waste it, "How can I accept a sammin, Neil?"

Now, this. This drew an entire reaction from Neil. He opened his eyes completely at once and as if he had just been startled as fuck. It was a shock to Andrew too, those blue irises suddenly shining for him in a way he would never be tired of watching and feeling.

The snow was slowly falling around them, but the cold was the least important of things at the moment, except for the small flakes that huddled on the auburn curls and the cheeks blushing for everything but the low temperature. Except for the softness under them while they were kneeling in the snow. Except for the whiteness of the winter that always highlighted Neil's features so well.

"Andrew..."

He looked surprised beyond himself, which didn't really make much sense to Andrew, but he wasn't going to say anything about it.

He reached his other hand on Neil's bare cheek and perfectly cupped his face.

And then he couldn’t help it anymore. The words overflowed from his soul and its biggest desire for the last few years.

"Can I kiss you?" Andrew asked, with a small cloud of air leaving his lips.

If possible, Neil just looked even more surprised. He was looking back at him with big eyes and as if he had just heard Andrew say that he wanted to marry and live in a castle with him. Except, maybe, that wasn't so far from the truth.

"Yes. Yes."

He answered twice as if only once wasn’t enough, and immediately closed his eyes, eager. Andrew bit back a smile.

He pulled Neil in as if he were fragile, as if he were all that mattered and everything that Andrew couldn't lose. He kissed Neil as if he lived because of that kiss, as if he was afraid he would never be able to taste it again and that was all he wanted to taste forever. And that was all true, he realized.

Mostly they were sloppy and uncoordinated, a complete mess of lips and wet sounds. Regaining some of his consciousness, Andrew moved away just to arrange things right. He guided Neil with his own movements, and he followed very quickly. Apparently, he really had a smart tongue for things other than making sharp jokes or sarcastic comments. Andrew thoroughly enjoyed that.

And he didn't remember if he had ever felt so much affection and passion through a kiss, but that was the situation now. Andrew felt like he could just… _melt,_ at any moment. He also felt that what made the situation so special had very little to do with the fact that Neil was a magical, non-human creature, and more with the heavy hammering of Andrew's heart against his own chest.

And it was too much. It was not enough. Andrew wanted to deepen that kiss, to make that moment last forever, and even though he couldn’t make the last one come true, the first he could manage. Andrew’s tongue touched Neil’s lips gently. Ever so softly. Neil gasped in surprise at it, but his own tentative move against Andrew said everything, so Andrew did it again. And again. And soon their tongues touched and both of them hummed with satisfaction. It felt good to finally feel Neil. His lips against his own tasted like home and he saw himself quickly becoming addicted to it, but, at that moment, as Neil sighed against his mouth, he didn’t care about it. Not even a bit.

Distantly he realized that Neil's hands were on his lap, not touching Andrew yet, and this lack of contact reminded him that he had something also quite important to solve now.

"Well, then? How do I accept?” Andrew asked, having separated his mouth from Neil's, but still close enough to feel the other man's warmth against his face.

“You’re aware,” he was breathless and still with his eyes closed, “that this is a path of no return, right? Like, once you accept that, I'll be here, and you'd have to do a ridiculous ritual to get rid of me, which ...” He opened his eyes then and looked away for anywhere but Andrew's face before whispering, "...which would actually hurt me pretty bad."

"Yes, Neil, I’m aware and I’m sure that I want to proceed."

"Right. If you say so,” he shrugged, and bit his lip nervously, still looking anywhere else but Andrew. "It's very simple," Neil lifted his wrists, showing them to Andrew. When the blonde was about to ask what the hell was that, two bright red lines that definitely hadn't been there a few seconds earlier appeared, one on each wrist. "You just have to share the thread with me."

Andrew isn’t very proud to admit that he stayed a few seconds with his eyes fixed on the strings that just couldn’t didn't shine more than Neil's eyes. Nothing shone more than those eyes. But anyway, the strings were damn beautiful. They were bright red and seemed to sparkle against the cold winter air. Andrew didn't know how it was possible that he couldn't see them before, but then he remembered... _well, everything._

“Right. How?"

Neil moved his right hand to his left wrist and grabbed for the thing with his fingers and, just like that, one of the lines came out and was being held in front of Andrew's face.

"May I?" He asked, with his free hand now extended in front of him, palms up.

Andrew slowly raised his own hand and placed it over Neil's, curious but not least trusting the other man. "Sure, go ahead."

Neil made a point of always making visible the movements he was making while bringing the red line close to Andrew's wrist — by the way, only now that he was looking directly did he remember the armbands, so much had they practically become a second skin for him — and, easy as that, the string wrapped and remained like a bracelet on him.

They stood and watched for a while, while both strands glowed on Neil's right wrist and Andrew's left wrist. The feeling was funny: a little tingling and a little warm, but definitely pleasant. 

Especially with the meaning it carried.

"There," Neil said, grinning, his _blue, glistening,_ eyes shining onto Andrew’s now.

"That’s it?" Andrew frowned, genuinely curious.

"Yes. Congratulations, you have a sammin connected to you.”

"You’ll stay?" The blonde looked away from their still joined hands to Neil's face.

"For as long as you want me to."

“Alright, but are you gonna keep running away every time someone gets close? Because, if so, things are gonna be kinda complicated and it’s gonna look like I’m hallucinating, which is something that the society doesn’t take very lightly,” Andrew raised both eyebrows in what he hoped would be a challenging gesture.

"That you’ll have to wait until the end of winter to see," Neil now had a mischievous smile.

“I hate mystery. I prefer to be used to things,” Andrew’s eyebrow arched, but it was soft.

Neil would stay. Finally.

“Mm. We better make this kissing thing a habit, then, don't you think?”

There was a beat of silence, where Andrew — or, say, his fucking gay brain — was processing that piece of information. He blinked twice and then gave up for good.

"Yes, we better do," he whispered and grabbed Neil's wrists to pull them up and place them on Andrew's shoulders. He continued to hold and intertwined both of his hands with Neil's as they approached to kiss again — admittedly it wasn't the easiest position but they would handle it.

Andrew thought, remotely, that he might come to enjoy a Christmas night where if he kept kissing Neil after all.

~

It was exactly the first day of spring. The first day of spring for the first time after Andrew did that strange thing of sharing the thread with Neil and supposedly ensuring that he would stay even after the end of winter.

Well, Neil wasn’t here now. This was leaving Andrew a little beyond himself and anxious, but Neil had promised that he would come back — when they last saw each other before the end of winter — and Andrew did trust him, so he guessed that all that had remained for him to do, was to wait.

In the meantime though, he couldn't help but imagine. How different things would be now, if they were to be different, and if he and Neil would be different too.

It wasn’t usual for Andrew to overthink this kind of thing, but then he suspected that it was also not exactly usual for a protective mythical creature with inhuman features to appear out of nowhere in his life, so he relented. And he didn't think any of the other people in the dorm were getting where his nervous energy was coming from, so everything was fine.

Andrew was smoking by the window, alone, when someone knocked on the dorm's door. He didn't move a muscle to go and see who that was, and everyone already knew he would do that so they were already prepared for it.

Nicky emerged from the direction of the bedrooms and walked past him to the door, while Andrew just watched his every move.

He couldn't see much of the person on the other side when his cousin opened the door, though. Apparently whoever it was was smaller than Nicky, so his taller body was covering the person's figure.

Low voices came in a quick conversation that Andrew both couldn't and didn't want to hear enough to make out anything. He just kept looking outside through the window.

_Neil possessed magic on some level, didn't he? Perhaps he would appear, don't know, arising from a random shadow? Or materializing from thin air? Or flying?_

_Could he fly?_

_And would he look different?_ Andrew hated to admit that he kinda liked all the… tail and… bunny ears… and all that stuff. And—

"Andrew, this one's for you," Nicky called, from where he was at the door.

Frowning and curious, Andrew turned to try to see the person on the other side again. Taking the hint, Nicky stepped aside and tried to put the person in Andrew's field of vision. And then— _Oh dear satan._

_He came through the door. Of course, the fucking bastard came through the door. Where else would he come from?_

Standing just behind Nicky was none other than Neil. That is, he didn't have those inhuman features — _what a shame,_ Andrew thought distractedly — but it was still the same auburn hair, blue eyes, and... the moment he saw Andrew, the same affectionate and endless smile.

Andrew stubbed out his cigarette and threw it out the window. Maybe the butt would fall on the head of someone who was passing by, but he honestly didn't care now.

Straightening up and walking to the door, Andrew said, "Go inside, Nicky."

His cousin was already used to it by now, so he just shrugged and left, knowing better than insisting would result in nothing. Unfortunately, however, the expression on his face was no longer so disinterested.

Andrew got out and closed the door behind him, not stopping when he was with Neil in the hall, but rather continuing to walk until he reached the door leading to the roof and starting to go up the stairs. He heard the sound of footsteps behind him and was pleased that Neil got the message.

They were alone on the roof, just as imagined.

"So you really came back," Andrew said. Which, on second thought, was pretty silly of him, but he didn't exactly know how else to start.

"I promised I would, so here I am," it was almost possible to hear the smile in Neil's voice. "Why, did you miss me?"

Andrew turned and faced him, looking at him with narrowed and attentive eyes. Neil wasn't even affected by it.

"Not at all," the blonde replied and held out a hand to the other man. His left hand, which was returned with Neil's right hand. The points where the astronomer and his universe were directly connected now.

"I said it once and I'll say it again, you remind me of a wild ocean," Neil smiled softly, watching their joined hands.

Andrew’s eyebrow rose at the reference.

"I'm afraid I'll have to ask you to explain this, this time."

"I don't know, it could be anything. From how the sea is feared, to how it is unknown. Or from how it is admired, to how it is the most exquisite thing in the world," he looked up at Andrew again, and his blue eyes shone as he moved his free hand to brush a lock of Andrew's hair away from his face. "And, as I said, I always wanted to know the sea. Like the boy, and eventually the man, with honey brown eyes whom I thought I couldn't know how to love."

Andrew’s heart caught in his throat. _How could Neil say things like that?_

"Yes or no?" Andrew asked breathlessly. Because the desire to kiss, to love Neil was too much for him to breathe properly.

"Yes," the auburn-haired man replied, just before he was pulled into Andrew’s embrace and smiled against his lips as they kissed.

This was where a story that had started in winter expanded to much longer. The story of an astronomer who was discovered by an endless universe full of constellations.

They had no reason to hurry now, Andrew realized. They had time.

  
  
  
  


**Author's Note:**

> thank you so much for reading this far!! i hope you've enjoyed it, leave some kudos and comments if you feel like it. good holidays and happy new year for everybody!!
> 
> (you can always find me on [twitter](https://twitter.com/moonqueerdom) or [tumblr](https://thewickeddevil.tumblr.com/) and you can [buy me a coffee](https://ko-fi.com/moon020310) if you want and help support me)


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